Ep. 479 – Jim Goodman (Ticket Systems Innovator)

Fewer people have seen the dawn of online ticketing like Jim Goodman, who was the first person to advocate for Ticketmaster to have a presence on the web. After that point, Goodman left to run ticketing for Walt Disney, then established Tickets.com’s presence as a Ticketmaster competitor, including a merger that yielded Major League Baseball as an owner. Goodman explains some of the ways that online ticketing got started, including how his efforts resulted in those $16 service fees on a $17 ticket, and why those service fees continue to exist today. Goodman spares no punches in his wide-ranging opinions on promoters, teams, service fees, the StubHub vs Ticketmaster & Golden State Warriors lawsuit, and the secondary market as a whole. Goodman speaks about having ‘boots on the ground’ experience and why the ticket industry has hurt itself by not hiring those with that type real work experience into their upper eschelon. Twitter: @JimGoodman